Darius West

Gonn Orta likes to trade for magical items, especially ones that you find in Plunder. As to what he does with them? I suspect he is saving them for his daughter's cradle.

I think Gagarth gets a dishonor passion instead of honor, and can invoke it when doing bad things. Your comment above (to me) seems more like a Humakti "severance from clan ties" issue, than a descent into Gagarthi behavior. I agree Akhorahil. Gagarth won't protect anyone from spirits of reprisal, except perhaps with standard Spirit Block.

So you think the Dwarves are the good guys huh?

I really like the addition of God-talkers in the rules (p278), but I always thought they were more involved in supporting ceremonies for any and all gods of their pantheon, rather than just one. I certainly have no problem with the clarification though.

In my experience, more than half of RLs bite off more than they can chew pretty early, or suffer from Balastor syndrome (trollkin or equivalent spear crit takes them down). They Divine Intervene to get out of it, and they get away with it the first time, but the second time their power gets nuked, and the third or fourth time they die. I would imagine Hero Wars RLs are even faster to bite the dust. Wow, your character had a worse case of it than my friend's Yelmalio. Perhaps we should call this particulr affliction "Grettir's Syndrome" in his honor? 😄 No, they were a little above average. His INT was 16 I think, and he had a +1d4 Dam bonus. Nobody had the funds to train much unless we got very lucky adventuring, or sacrificed power to make spell matrices to sell to afford training. RQ2 you understand.

I was pretty disappointed when Secrets of Tibet had nothing on the Plateau of Leng, when Tibet is pretty much supposed to be one of its major Earthly manifestation places. If someone plans to re-write it, I hope they rectify this oversight.

Is Belintar supposed to be Jason Momoa as Aquaman but in the nuddy?

Ditto

Belintar was the last Godlearner, and hid out as a reclusive merman before body hopping a drowning fisherman in Choralinthor bay.

(1) Tovtari Elmal worshippers scrapping with Tusk Riders on the cliffs of Snakepipe Hollow. (2) Wind Children trolling Wasp Riders in aerial maneuvers. (3) Nochet City Night Patrol ST1626. (Rembrandt-ish), (4) Cheese merchants protesting in Doblian. (5) Adventurers flee a monstrosity in the Clanking ruins. (6) A quiet morning in Barbarian Town (7) Smoking trollkin out of a hidden cellar near Clearwine (8) Zorak Zorani getting buzzed on Dwarf Meat in the Big Rubble. (9) Laundry Day in Alkoth, aka scrubbing out the Blood stains (10) Silver Peltasts cleaning the Guardian of Corflu (11) Thunder Delta Slingers lining up to be eaten by the Crimson Bat aka Faithful to the Emperor. (12) Tsankth Pirates battle a Teshnan Elephant Galley (13) Impala Riders bargain with Troll merchant for mushroom wine (14) Locals rush to the aid of an accused cobbler when an Uroxi fumbles Sense Chaos , somewhere in Balkoth territory (15) Arkati Sects brawling round the fountain on the plaza of Nisos. (16) Pentan Riders spy on the Red Haired Caravan (17) A Vampire stalks the Demi-Vierge of Rhigos (18) Newly castrated Maran Gor initiates stumble the streets of Wintertop (19) Peasants near the Hill of Gold laying bets on Hero Questers. (20) Driving the pigs to market in Elkoi.

IMO that is the better approach. Besides, less is expected of initiates. RL? All responsibility, no income.😉

This is called a Tribal Faction, and they occur as political alliances within tribal confederations in order to push certain agendas. For example if you have a clan with a great Issaries temple, another with a Great Chalana Arroy Temple, and one with a Great Lhankor Mhy temple, they may group together to try to rein in the warlike clans and encourage the tribe to take a more peaceful and civilized direction. Factions may form to deny one clan the Kingship, or promote a particular King. Some may simply form a power bloc with a couple of other clans to promote their own interests above those of other clans, forcing the other clans to pay bribes (tribute) for their support in a vote. Sometimes clans that are not getting justice will form a Faction. Sometimes these clans will split off and form their own tribal confederation if relations sour further. On the other hand, sometimes a clan that is very well run can grow large enough to need to split, and potentially split again within a decade, forming 3 clans, the original and 2 more, likely smaller clans. Normally such splits are acrimonious, but that is not necessarily always the case. There is no reason why a clan cannot have its own wyter, and most will and do.

It probably wouldn't hurt if there was more of a naming convention available for the different cultures for new players to draw upon. I would personally just look at names drawn from the lore of the region, and extrapolate.

Most clans have about 1000 members, about 20 of whom are full time military professionals (weaponthanes) who act as guards and perform missions for the clan. I wouldn't suggest that all weaponthanes are RLs, but the best of them will be. I think about 5 RLs per clan is a good number, given that they will collectively have about 1000 hides of land between them at cult expense. A weaponthane is pretty much guaranteed to be someone with a 90%+ mastery in at least 1 weapon the clan favors, but some might get the position through an act of great bravery that sets them apart. I would agree that less Peace tribes may have fewer RLs (crudely half, perhaps 1 per 400, and closer to your 500) and War tribes might have more (crudely double, perhaps 1 per 100). I suppose much depends on patronage however. It might be that the Chief or the Ring decides that they need more RLs and weaponthanes, and sets aside resources like land, cash and iron to insure that there are positions to fill. Many RLs will become part of the Clan Ring, filling the War Seat, or even the Chief Seat. My intent was that Priests are not front-line fighters like RLs. They are educators, and provide magical services to the clan, rather than ploughing into battle. RL turnover should be somewhat high. A God-Talker is obviously less expert, and a substitute. We are completely on the same page here. As an aside, I once had a friend who played a Yelmalion who was one skill check away from mastering his Comp Bow, which was sitting at 85%, and it took him 2 years IRL, playing fortnightly to make the up roll. You can't guarantee the progression of a promising candidate to RL. 2 of his non-cult skills hit mastery before Comp Bow. I point this out as it is a lesson that has stuck with me about RLs. That being said, those who get there are on a fast track to Herodom or dying in the next couple of years. Divine Intervention can only go so far. when you keep wandering into trouble on purpose. It is notable that when a character hits RL, their initiate buddies tend to fall into an orbit around them.

While I enjoy the Hindu philosophy behind the godhead of Brahma, I am surprised that the Invisible God is not more Zoroastrian in its inspiration, given that the Zoroastrian priests are our cultural model for Wizards, and the original source for the theory of the Elements which has been attributed (falsely) to Aristotle. Historically, Zoroastrianism and Hinduism weren't friendly, to the point where the term "Asura" in Hinduism (derived from Ahura (Mazda)) means Hell deity, and are seen as benign in Zoroastrianism and hostile in Hinduism.

I believe the info is in Arcane Lore, but it is certainly discussed elsewhere on the Glorantha forum if I remember correctly. Obviously Horned Man was the first shaman, but other people can spontaneously become shamans too, if they run into the Bad Man and survive. Of course they are then in trouble, as they are at the mercy of the spirits who can now see them. You point out the quote: "Shamans are often awoken during childhood. The Horned Man whispers his knowledge into their sleeping ears and they are forever changed." The point is, that awakening during childhood is the spontaneous initiation I am discussing. Horned Man sends the sleeper into the path of the Bad Man to be initiated if he thinks the world needs another shaman. As to why he chooses particular people, well, that is likely the marking you are referring to. Suitability in terms of high CHA and high POW is a pretty good guess at what Horned Man is looking for (at a guess).

We are on the same page, but my Jrusteli survived by eating each other when their emergency siege supplies ran out (after the Giants and Praxians kicked Robcradle over), and that is how they became ogres. While they didn't have any God Learners in their number, they definitely had sorcerers, and they maintained their tradition as it was one of the few weapons they had available that could actually defend them. The Jrusteli were already aware of the presence of the Eye of Wakboth under Robcradle and had been digging to find it, which is why there were tunnels in the first place, rather than just a basement that the giants could have stomped in. The ogres certainly weren't above joining other chaos cults, as their taint couldn't easily be hidden (from the Stormbulls), and the ogres are arch pragmatists who sought any advantage they could get, including joining Black Fang and Lanbril when possible. This is perhaps why Lanbril has incorporated so many alchemical toys into their cult; they are hang-overs from Jrusteli tech. When Pavis came, he built the city around the ogres, and they preyed on the inhabitants, using guile and cunning so as not to be discovered. Some were able to infiltrate Pavic society, and they became involved in the Sorcery Cult of Iffinbix, as their training gave them an advantage. They are one of the reasons that Iffinbix ultimately fell to Vivamort, and is why the Pavis region has so many vampires. The fall of the city was a good time for the Ogres, as the trolls wouldn't hunt by day, which meant they could. Numerous enough ogres secretly lived among the Rubble Survivors, as they were not at all friendly with the Stormbulls or Praxians in general. There were a couple of purges where ogre blood was discovered, but not enough. The cult of Iffinbix was a big deal for the survivors, and ultimately its fall to undeath was another blow to the longer term plans for taking back the city. During Lunar occupation, more hidden ogres in the Lunar ranks and population began to sense the Cacodemon ceremonies and come to Ogre island to partake. These orgiastic rites began to swell the ranks of the somewhat inbred ogres of the island. Most were subsequently annihilated during the Whitebull period, as it marked a time of massive inter-cult co-operation and there were more Stormbulls camped in the Rubble than ever before. This meant that the ogre survivors fled to Adari until things quietened down again. Rumors persist that they used Krarsht tunnels to do this.

Some shamans are spontaneously initiated in their dreams. Lacking the protection of a more experienced shaman, they may well cop more than just taboos.

Simply put, most cults can't maintain more than a couple of Rune Lords economically per temple as RLs are entitled to a good chunk of 200 hides of land for their ongoing support, that temples often simply don't have available. Also, there are generally very few people who qualify for the role, due to the skill requirements being pretty high. To find someone who as mastered 5 distinct skills is no small thing, and there is no guarantee that they will have mastered the right 5 skills to become a RL of their cult, even having done so. Priests by comparison have similar economic requirements, but not the skill requirements, and are in many ways more indispensable than RLs, as they meet the actual community requirement of providing ritual leadership, and don't have the death rate of RLs as they don't spend most of their lives scurrying off to die in holes while chasing nasty things. RLs are always at the forefront of a battle, and their iron will always mark them as the most high value target, and like Balastor, they eventually have a "trollkin hit them in the knee with a spear". Now during the Hero Wars, there is likely to be a concerted effort to create more RLs on both sides of the conflict, and yes, the ongoing century long war will see a good many RLs take the field, with more being ready to pick up their mantle when they die, but that isn't the case in 1625 when RQG is presently set.

Runelords are not normal. Assume 1 per about 200 people as a rule of thumb. Priests are about 1 per 100. As to your Chief, there is a good chance they might be a Runelord, and many will be, especially in a time of trouble, but for Orlanthi, a chief really only has to be an initiate of Orlanth Rex, and they will get that gratis if they are elected Chief.

I suspect that the failure point is when the Shaman is possessed by the Bad Man by losing the fight... But wait... If you have high enough stats that won't happen, because it almost can't. How did your Shaman mentor know that?

That rather assumes that they actually know and understand their own creation. How well do you recall your own birth?😉

Given that our ancestors had a plethora of explanations for the shape of the world during the bronze age and they were all wrong, can we really be certain that Gloranthans actually know the correct answers? Theists tend take a lot on faith.

Do we really believe the myths, or are they the stories we tell the children to explain things we don't understand because we live in the bronze age? You are not using the correct terminology.

Given that one is struggling up a mountain in the freezing cold at the time, and there is a distinct lack of barometers in Glorantha (last time I checked), I think the simple answer is that nobody knows. If folk find themselves short of breath and on the point of exhaustion when way up in the air, they are unlikely to blame altitude sickness, especially seeing as how they likely don't even have a term for it. If we start messing with Earth-like physics, what else logically falls apart? Well, if air pressure is constant, you won't get much variation in what we term "weather", as wind is caused by pressure variations. If we say that air pressure is always constant, then we can only explain the weather by saying it is "magic", but in fact the notion of constant air pressure would destroy the very same "magic" argument it relies on, as clearly the air is variable in its movements, and constant air pressure would deny that possibility pretty much completely. The constant air pressure idea is a nice attempt to murder Orlanth, but it probably shouldn't be allowed to stand.😄 The Sky world by comparison is a far more fantastical and artificial realm. In the Sky Dome the air is calm as it has been pacified and enslaved by the sky gods, but the atmosphere is likely also more compressed and much lower than in the Middle Realm. Glorantha is a enormous terrarium (if you accept the lozenge notion), large enough to have very major weather systems, but not in the Sky Dome, unless there is a major "Storm attack" incident against the inside of the dome.